1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of support apparatus for keyboards and the like, and in particular concerns a support apparatus with dual, or left and right, palm rests. The apparatus is positionable to support a keyboard or like item in various inclined positions. The dual palm rests are mounted separately on a common carriage, which carriage slides in a plane back and forth relative to a front edge of working surface of the apparatus.
The manner of mounting the palm rests permits each palm rest to swivel about a respective swivel axis. The swivel axes generally intersect perpendicularly a plane that is defined by the sliding of the carriage. Additionally, the manner of mounting the palm rests involves each palm rest being hinged about a respective hinge axis. Each hinge axis extends in a plane generally perpendicular to the associated swivel axis. In practical use, the plane defined by the sliding carriage is generally horizontal, the swivel axes are generally vertical, and the hinge axes are generally horizontal.
The palm rests preferably are connected with springs or the like for biasing the palm rests about both the swivel axes and the hinge axes. Additionally, the carriage is likewise preferably connected with a spring or springs for biasing the carriage to move normally into the front edge of the working surface of the apparatus. Overall, the palm rests, carriage and springs cooperate to effect a multiply adjustable clamping action relative to the relatively stationary working surface of the support apparatus.
2. Prior Art
It is known combine a keyboard support assembly with a palm rest on a carriage. The carriage permits displacement of the palm rest relative to a front edge of a keyboard on the support assembly. An example of a palm rest with carriage is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,136 --Hassel et. al. The carriage is adjustably repositioned via untightening and tightening a set of wing nuts. An advantage in such a carriage arrangement is that the carriage and palm rest cooperatively provide a clamping engagement on a front edge of a keyboard on the keyboard support assembly.
The known keyboard support assemblies, of which U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,136 discloses one example, are disadvantageous for use with many of the commercially available keyboards. Two types of keyboards particularly cause problems.
One is the split keyboard. The split keyboard is partitioned midway between the left and right edges, each half being pivotably attached to the other half about a ball joint at the upper edge. The two halves can be locked in various positions such that each is slightly spread apart from the other along their front edges, and/or inclined, relative to the horizontal, in separate planes. The split keyboard is advantageous for allowing an operator to position his or her arms in a more natural and/or comfortable position than possible with a straight keyboard. While the known keyboard support assemblies are limitedly suitable for clamping onto the front edge of a straight keyboard, they are plainly ill-suited for clamping onto the bidirectional front edge(s) of the split keyboard.
The other problematic keyboard for clamping is any of the commercially available laptop computers, each which typically has an integral keyboard. The commercially available laptop computers vary considerably in regards to thickness (i. e., height). For instance, there is often an inch (2.5 cm) or more difference between the thickness of the keyboards of laptops and the thickness of non-laptop keyboards. In consequence, the known keyboard support assemblies are not variable enough in their adjustability to meet all the variety in the thicknesses of commercially available keyboards, especially laptops.
In laptops, there also is much variety in the location of ports for disks, diskettes, cards and the like. It is generally popular to locate these ports in one of the front, rear, left or right sidewalls of the keyboard. Beyond that much of a generality, there is no particular one of the sidewalls in which the ports typically are located. The problem is, that the known keyboard support assemblies have poorly placed clamping members which will align on one or more of the different types of laptops such that the clamping members will obstruct a port. Not only are ports at risk of being obstructed, but other times what is obstructed is a connection for a 110 VAC line-cord or the like. Indeed, in one laptop, the front sidewall carries a trackball. The keyboard support assembly disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,136 typifies the problems in the prior art. That is, it has a crosswise palm rest which would directly interfere with the trackball of that laptop when positioned against the front edge thereof.
For the above reasons and many more, the known keyboard support assemblies are disadvantageous for universal compatibility with all the various keyboards, which vary so much in shape and arrangement. What is needed is keyboard support apparatus which overcomes the problems of the prior art.
Furthermore, it would be advantageous to provide keyboard support assemblies with more accessories that complement use of the support assembly while supporting keyboards, other electronic interface devices, or, indeed, even non-electronic items such as ordinary writing cases and the like. Such accessories include side pads for use with cursor positioning devices and the like. The side pads preferably are movable between use and storage positions. Additional, other accessories include receptacles for storing cursor positioning devices, lamps, document holders, and so on. These and other complementary accessories are not adequately provided and/or addressed in the prior art keyboard support assemblies.